Facing the End
by LyraCat
Summary: I know it's all over, and I regret what has been done and what has come to pass. Even though the struggles of these worlds have drawn to a close, it's too late for me. So what do I do? The only thing I can… And so I face the end. [An alternate ending to the final battle of Twilight Princess.] {Link's PoV} (Midlink one-shot)


I see Hyrule's wisest hovering over me, calling my name. Zelda's eyes are wet, but tears don't fall from her pained face and instead glisten from her sorrowful blue gaze. Is she hurt? No. I know she's not hurt.

I am.

The princess didn't want this to happen. I hope she doesn't feel like it's her fault. After all, she never wished for her kingdom or that of the other to fall. She never wished for me to get caught up in this, for me to face my death –

 _Death._

That's right. I'm dying, aren't I? Dying just like the one who I went so far to save did. But… now that I think about it, maybe it's okay for me to leave: to go and be by her side – she who was killed by _him_.

"G-ga-" I stutter, trying my hardest to say his foul name, but Zelda cuts me off, knowing what I attempt to ask.

"Yes. He is dead. You have done well in vanquishing him. I cannot thank you enough, Link," she speaks, voice shaking the slightest and maybe her lip quivering along with it, but I can't tell for sure with this wavering consciousness of mine. Upon hearing those reassuring words I let an uneven breath escape my lips as my eyes drift closed. I've done my part. Good. I can finally rest after all this. I can join her now…

With effort I force my heavy eyelids apart, getting a frail glimpse of the blue sky and shining light of this world before darkness consumes me. I know it won't be her darkness. That of which is known as twilight… But even then in the world beyond this one yet not where she hails from, I can still be by her side.

I can see Midna once more.

I've failed her. I almost failed Zelda and Hyrule too. Somehow though, I've hung on just barely long enough, but now… It doesn't matter any longer. I'm bleeding out. Everything from my journey, our times shared together. It's going. Slowly going as the nothingness consumes me and everything that I have become from all that I have faced. Soon there won't be anything left, just a corpse. A corpse like the one of the evil man who killed the woman that endured more than any of us should.

I want to tell Zelda something, to maybe let her know that this is fine. This is what I earned for not protecting the princess of another kingdom, for failing in my duty as a hero. Even if she were still alive, I wouldn't deserve her anyway.

I struggle to inhale; body trembling and a searing pain gripping my midsection from the gaping wound that pours my life into the brown dirt beneath my figure. I attempt to form words in my mind; picking some after what seems like an eternity but I know lasted only a moment. My brain gives orders to my lips to shape them, but as I vainly attempt to set my reassurance free, only blood bubbles from the edge of my mouth, thoughts unable to escape in the form of sound.

I can't spare the effort to try again, especially after seeing the pain it caused on the face of the princess. Instead I endeavor to smile, something harder than anticipated in my current state. With the difficult action only comes another wave of dull agony, but I ignore it with the unexpected call of my name.

 _"Link!"_

That's not Zelda's voice; neither is it belonging to the man who made so many suffer. If I had the energy I would lift my head to look around, to find the one in this large empty battlefield who cried for me in a tone so memorable yet somehow foreign.

Then suddenly, I see her with my blurred vision. A woman is by my side, hovering over my quickly fading being just as Zelda is. She calls my name once more, pain and sorrow twisting her otherworldly features into a mask of anguish and fear. She looks down at me with her vaguely familiar and concerned amber eyes, brow knit in terror. Her form is larger than even that of Zelda's regal presence, and the pale blue skin of hers catches the evening light, glowing like the aquamarine runes on her body. They are complementary yet contrasting to that of her flaming hair, which tumbles from her head, falling over cloaked shoulders to be tied across the chest with a shackle I have seen before.

It's at that moment I realize who it is, and she's –

She's beautiful. I want to tell her that, but I've no words left. Even if I did I wouldn't be able to speak them. They've all drained out of me, just as my blood has. I hope it hasn't sullied her robes. The gorgeous gowns decorated by the black of night and turquoise from a world beyond. Attire she has only recently acquired once more.

With my quickly fading vision I get one final glimpse at the true form of the Princess of Twilight; wondering how and why she is here and if what I am seeing is an illusion of my broken mind and body to ease the pain of these last shaking breaths.

Then I feel her hand on my cheek. It's soft and warm against my cold pale skin, as a single silver shining tear falls from her face to land on mine; shattering my heart that longs to see her happiness in these final moments. From that I know it's not an illusion, not a dream before death consumes me. She is here and alive, even if she isn't lively. I wish to see her smile and joy. But I can't have that simple pleasure.

I can't have it because I left her behind for the darkness. Darkness that isn't hers, that isn't what she resides in, somehow managing to escape what I have been inevitably pulled into. So I desperately hope that she at least knows the truth, the words I can't say now that I am gone.

 _I love you, Midna…_

* * *

 **A/N: Wrote this between classes earlier today (when I should have been working on other stuff, but whatever :P). I don't think I've actually ever written a Midlink fic where I killed off the hero. Now I made myself kinda sad… :( Oh well. Time to play Tri Force Heroes!**


End file.
